It's 1634 Quebec. LaForgue (Lothaire Bluteau) is a Jesuit which the natives call Black Robe. He and young Daniel (Aden Young) are sent on a dangerous journey by Champlain to the distant mission with the Hurons. They are guided by a group of Algonquin Indians led by Chomina (August Schellenberg). Daniel falls for Chomina's daughter Annuka (Sandrine Holt). Simple things like a clock and writing seems to be magic for the natives and they suspect Black Robe is a demon.There is great realism in this movie. The characters are human and complex. There is confusion and lots of misunderstandings. It's a no nonsense take on the grim early interactions. Both sides are doing what they perceive to be right but the clash of cultures is too much. The acting is superb especially from August Schellenberg. The locations are grand and they have a brooding danger about them. The wilderness takes the movie and never lets it go.

I felt compelled to register and leave a review after reading a couple of the old critics reviews. The end left one thinking it was all heading to nothing?! Bleakness for the sake of bleakness etc. The end is excellent and beautifully portrayed to the extent didn't you love them all as well. It ends with a beautifully poignant moment and the little history that comes up confirms the end for the priest was not about the result or fruits (unlike the old priest who was willing to sell baptism as magic for conversations) but the faith itself, which actually ended being forged through his journey from an intellectual concept to one of love, the message of Christianity. Do you love us Black Robe, the faces and yes, genius. Lovely pace and rhythm to it and the man who felt it was all in bleak grey weather should go to a tanning salon, Canada-winter!, I will give it 10 not because I believe it but its a hell of a lot more than 7.1 when you look at the score of some superficial s... on this site. Loved it. ps one critic thought his point about Indians having gods put across nebulously, eh clarity is not simplistic. I was clear what he was saying and it was not judgemental, that was the joy, there is no answer,live with or watch Hollywood smuck the whole of your life and don't go out. It was pretty close to art which is not common in commercial film.

If Bruce Beresford's 'Driving Miss Daisy' suffered from a softened, Hollywooden view of history and racial conflicts, the bleak, beautiful sometimes horrific, always uncompromising 'Black Robe' is its correlative opposite.Set in the 17th century, both the Native Canadian people, and the French Jesuits who come to bring then religion (when they already have their own, thank you very much) are presented as deeply flawed, cold and cruel at times, blind to the complexities of each other's humanity.Yet both are also touched by moments of kindness and understanding that lead to the sense that this story of one Jesuit's torturous trip with a band of native guides is not without it's growth for all involved.Most critics were mixed on this, and I understand their objections, though I don't share them. The film is distant emotionally, and we never really get inside any of the characters, even the titular priest, called 'Black Robe' by the native people. The film is more illustrative than dramatic. Again, the exact opposite strengths and weaknesses of Beresord's 'Driving Miss Daisy', which was full of wonderfully moving characters, but lacking honest context.But I found the historical context here, and intellectual insight, the suspense inherent to the story, along with the physical beauty of the locations and the sharply honest insight into the Native universe enough to be always engrossed and interested, and ultimately quite moved.

The following quote might scare the kids; yet read it, because I deconstruct it after-wards.'No film better captures the strangeness and complexity of the Native-European collision in North America. The courage, fear, religious fervor, confusion, nobility, and savagery of the natives and Jesuits are conveyed with an almost anthropological dispassion, with the beautiful, brutal Canadian wilderness portrayed as the ultimate, sovereign force.'—wrote somewhere a _blogger; well, pals, he couldn't be farer from the truth. I don't like to bash a fellow _blogger—but this one is wholly wrong. Why? Why, fair reader? Because:--(1)—BLACK ROBE is a enormously enjoyable movie—a very fun movie; literate and original, yes, but in a mainstream and discreet ,unassuming way; Beresford is no Godard or other experimental directors; consequently, BLACK ROBE is straight fun, a dramatic thriller; --(2)—there are no scientific whims, no savant antics—it's a suspenseful drama, a thrilling and hugely palatable movie;--(3)—and where did he came with that sovereign nature from? Beresford's flick is entirely about people.On the funny side, there's sex, there's violence and brutality; on the priestly side, the movie's thorough and keen. It's nothing above Beresford's head, as it were—but an original, likable and straight movie.I remember that Lothaire Bluteau, a Canadian, was the lead.